I love the internet and television, but I also love picking up the newspaper from my porch every morning.

As a kid, growing up, we had two daily newspapers: The Courier-Journal(in the morning), and The Louisville Times(in the evening). Everybody on the street got at least one or both. In 1987, a business decision caused us to be reduced to just the morning paper, The Courier-Journal. I didn't like that situation, and still haven't adjusted.

On this past Wednesday morning, by invitation for curmudgeons like myself who enjoy writing letters of opinion to the editor, I went to a coffee meeting downtown at the newspaper's HQ, and got some answers to some basic questions. I've been very concerned about typographical errors and poorly written stories in the paper. The head guy said that it's basically down to a lack of money(they don't have enough money to keep a good staff of copy editors), and time(the internet keeps them jumping, constantly, so they don't have time to proofread their stories).

It was also said that it's rare to find a good reporter who is also a good writer, and vice versa, which made sense to me.

A few of us were let up to one of the news floors where the reporters work, and then I asked if I could see the actual printing press operation, and was told "maybe..." (There might be some legal safety issues.) They don't do any tours on a normal basis, but I'm hoping I can get a small tour through it because that would be cool. :~)

I doubt many people get a daily paper, but as much as I love online stuff, I still justify paying for a real printed paper delivered on my porch, everyday. ~I think the people such as me who enjoy the daily paper on the doorstep are basically going to all be dead by the time the actual print publication product is gone, because younger people have an electronic-only delivery system in their heads.

I just want my paper on time.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

While I liked Newspapers, I got so tired of the smell of newsprint ink, that I eventually stopped buying newspapers, and yes for 3 years I delivered newspapers on a paper route as a teenager on a bicycle for the LA Herald Examiner(My dad was a circulation manager for the Copley chain and back then single handedly saved the Burbank Herald I was told, the LA Herald Examiner was not part of the Copley chain), a converted stingray single speed, that I made into a 5 speed bike, I needed speed and the ability to maneuver, which most bikes did not have back then.

And I had 100 customers, so I got $100 a month, plus it was My 1st job.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I doubt many people get a daily paper, but as much as I love online stuff, I still justify paying for a real printed paper delivered on my porch, everyday.

I don't want to deal with disposing of the paper and I don't want to subsidize with the news print industry. That said I do pay for my online subscription, I want the local paper to continue. OBTW to get a hard copy it's only 1$/mo extra.

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I don't want to deal with disposing of the paper

When I was a kid, we used to take the papers somewhere once a year and they measured what we had and gave us some pennies on the inch.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

We have distinct trash containers for paper, plastics, bottles, and cans in my hometown in Northern Italy. Recently the City administration gave us plastic bags with a microchip so the total trash amount for each family can be measured and charged for. But many people just throw their litter away on roadside trash containers to avoid paying what is due.
I am an old typographer and I like printed papers and the smell of ink of a new book, which I published while working at Mondadori Publishing House, Scientific books department. I read papers and magazines online, and when I find an interesting article I print it on one of my printers, so they accumulate on my desk.
Tullio

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I love the smell of newsprint ink in the morning:)
In Britain they used to wrap Fish and Chips in newspapers.
Some connoisseurs could even tell what newspaper it was, I'm told.

The Times and the Telegraph have damn good crosswords, bugger the news, go to Reuters for that!

Funny that you mention crosswords.
One of the reason that I subscribed to Dagens Nyheter for more than 30 years was because they had very good crosswords in the Friday and Saturday editions.
Especially Ingvar Thorén's.
He started doing those when I was born but sadly he died in 2008 after more than 53 years in the business.

Actually I have still one of his crosswords from November 23 1963 unsolved in my bottom drawer.
Yes. The same day that the news about President Kennedy's assassination was published in Dagens Nyheter.

the Financial Times

I seem to remember that paper being a light shade of pink, or am I completely crazy?

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

the Financial Times

I seem to remember that paper being a light shade of pink, or am I completely crazy?

Hehe:)

Here we have a newspaper that have some pages in pink but that is in the sport section.
And of course Dagens Industri:)
http://www.di.se/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copley_Press


My dad worked for James S. Copley as Circulation Manager, after My mom died I tossed out a number of things, including lots of Copley branded ashtrays.

And My cousin worked for My dad at some point in the Newspaper business.

Which is possibly where the award from Radio Free Europe came in, this was given to My dad.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Asked to weigh in on the matter a few years ago, the Pantone Color Institute suggested “bisque” was a more appropriate descriptor of the colour.

Strange. Bisque has a more orange tone than FT.

Whatever. Different paper colors for newspapers makes a difference at the newsstand.
Nervous businessmen are probably more likely to grab those pink papers than other papers.

Which is possibly where the award from Radio Free Europe came in, this was given to My dad.

Radio Free Europe is still alive.
https://www.rferl.org/

I've always sort of fantasized about a life where I get up in the morning and read the paper
at the breakfast table while drinking a cup of coffee. If I had that sort of life, I'd subscribe to
a newspaper. But my life isn't like that, and there's not really much in a newspaper that
interests me enough to pay for one.

I do subscribe to our little, twice-a-week, very local newspaper which is about 12-14 pages
long and is delivered via postal mail. And there's still more in that paper that doesn't interest
me than does. I don't think I'll be renewing my subscription.

Things change, and as much as some of us may hate that, it's a fact we must learn to live
with. Hardcopy newspapers are dying, but the news is still being made and reported via
electronic subscriptions. Anyone who pays for a hardcopy should be willing to pay for an
electronic version of the same newspaper, imho.

Edit: It truly angers me when an electronic subscription is the same price as a print
subscription. Why charge the same if you don't have to print and distribute copies?

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~Sue~

I've always sort of fantasized about a life where I get up in the morning and read the paper
at the breakfast table while drinking a cup of coffee

The thing about getting the hard copy newspaper everyday for me is it's a comfort zone thing. All my life, my parents' house has had a paper delivered to it, and it's a nice constant to look out on the porch in the morning and see it there. I pick it up, go inside, sit down at the kitchen table with my juice(not really a coffee drinker) and some toast and read local neighborhoods news first, and then the funnies section, and then the national news and opinion pages. I only read the sports section if a local team has played a game.

Back when there was an evening paper when I was a kid, I liked that, too, because it meant the day was over, my dad would be home from work soon, and supper would be ready. :~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Reuters is not attitude or politics free but it has been where most newspapers and enews has come from for a generation or so.

Reuters is where those who obfusticate the news get their stories and sell them on.

One of the old issues around British (and others) newspapers is that the ink included chemicals like arsenic, lead, mercury...

These days of course there is less aggressive or heavy toxins in the ink as they are bound using other interesting chemical compounds now but since the majority of the worlds arsenic is used in wood production (and reused in paper) we are still enjoying this effect.

I enjoy my media and news via electronic methods and even if I read something on paper it still got there because it first came via electronic medias into the publishing or printing houses.

I don't believe for a second that electronic media is cheaper than an old form printing press shared paper given the vast cost of electricity, copper wiring, thousands of millions of personal electronic devices, satelites and all their contaminents (or cost of recovery) when batteries die or their false cost due to petrol is taken into account.

Paper isn't forever recoverable but is far more biodegradable (as long as we don't poisen it) than a smartphone or tablet that you will throw away or upgrade after a year or so.

These days there is a certain difference (maybe smell) relating to paper. I suspect more people on the planet means more paper means less quality paper and more dust from poorer quality paper fibres and more chemical fixants.. (Unless you or your advertisers can afford to pay for better paper fibres and ink.)

Not sure more money though pays for better news. Maybe it pays for news that is more palitable though?


As to the news.

Most of us like to hear news that satisfies our perspective... even if all we hear is the same old stuff... So maybe we should stop listening to the news...

It would be cheaper and better on the future if instead of reading the news we created it.. at least in our own lives....

the ink

I am under the impression the ink for my local paper is soy-based.

Most of us like to hear news that satisfies our perspective...

At my meeting with the Editor, he did what everybody does when they think their perspective is "fair and balanced", so to speak. ;~) He said he thinks the paper here presents all perspectives. :~0

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

For many many years two newspapers hit the porch, a bit fat regional one in the morning and a smaller local one in the evening. Time passed and the local paper, which did both morning and evening editions dropped the evening and there were two morning papers. Time continued to pass and the local started losing quality. They must have gotten rid of the copy writers. I can't remember exactly when but I turned out to be at a newsworthy event. Got to see the local reporter collect the story. They talked to one person, who told them what they thought happened and the reporter ran elsewhere. They ran that story, but it was not what happened as I had stayed around to hear the people involved explain it to the police who where there. It was at this point I had a big bone to pick with them. I didn't cancel though. More time passed and the local got smaller and started having issues delivering the paper, too many missing copies, and the copy writing got even worse. Cancel. Paper is still published, but the 50 pages it was is down to 10 and on smaller sheets and no hard news anymore. I'm sure someone cares about the cotillion, but not I.

The regional held its standards all through this time. I did notice it was getting thinner, but it was still hefty and full of interesting things. Several years later however they had to close a regional distribution center. When they did, the paper wasn't getting to me early enough for me to read it before I had to go to work. Reading a morning paper in the evening isn't really a newspaper anymore. I've picked up a copy here and there since, but today it is a shell of its former glory. Frankly that paper's internet site is better than their print edition. It also has been sold a couple times and is now in a corporate behemoth.

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Gave up reading newspapers when the powers that be decided that UK Military when out of the UK should pay full international price, even though most of the papers were first editions and transported on flights paid for by the MOD (Ministry of Defense).

Frankly that paper's internet site is better than their print edition. It also has been sold a couple times and is now in a corporate behemoth.

As much as I love the internet, I don't like reading the paper on it or watching movies on it. Our paper's website is terrible, anyway. Gannett owns and publishes our paper nowadays. They bought both the Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times around 1987, and axed the Times, which was the evening paper. Prior to Gannett, the papers were locally owned by a family which to this day is still very philanthropic in the community. Unfortunately, some family bickering back in time caused the sell-out to Gannett.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

the ink

I am under the impression the ink for my local paper is soy-based.

Most of us like to hear news that satisfies our perspective...

At my meeting with the Editor, he did what everybody does when they think their perspective is "fair and balanced", so to speak. ;~) He said he thinks the paper here presents all perspectives. :~0

Soy is a monoculture crop that has been surplanted for so many of our native varients.. Maybe that is why our news is so one sided :)

There is nothing new about a culture that makes news a consumerist entertainment or desire to hear just one side.

If you read any of the Victorian newspapers they do exactly the same stuff.

I think Ramesses the 2nd was probably the first news maker and news editor with his amazing victory at Kadesh written large on the walls of Egypt. No victory but turned into such. Not electronically but in stone and around the kingdom on papyrus.

News needs a rather large (bucket sized) pinch of salt.